Sergei Bongart is a teacher. A beloved art teacher whose skills continue to be shared, after his passing in 1985 through this wonderful book created by Mary N. Balcomb and a sister publication summarizing his class comments compiled by his beautiful wife Patricia who continues to reside in Fechin’s Santa Monica studio, which they purchased in 1964.

Sergei Bongart, Red Roses (detail), 1978
oil, 34" x 36", Private Collection

Bold, brilliant, flamboyant-----the gentleman and his art----Russian born Sergei Bongart is arguably, the Dean of what is known today as the California Colorist. Traditionally trained in the academics and Russian Realism at the Kiev Art Institute where he saw his paintings grace museum walls at the age of eighteen.

He studied under Piotr Kotov, a student of Nicolai Fechin. Fellow students included Korovin, Maliavin, Konchalovsky. The five year classic program, October-May included three hours a day of figure drawing and three hours a day of painting. Summers included an intensive program and a formal free study program in the final three years. Russian painting techniques of bravura, broad strokes were instilled in the artist.

Later his artistic talent sustained him in a terror-ridden path across Europe through the tumultuous war years and finally immigration to America where he relished a vast student population. He wanted to educate everyone who wanted to learn about art.

Click on image for larger view
Russian Peasant Woman c. 1980, Oil, 40" x 30", collection of Diane McClary	Red Light 1976, acrylic, 32" x 40", private collection	In the Galleries 1946-50, oil on linen, 46.5" x 28"

Landscapes, figures, and still lifes, Bongart painted from his emotions not for any particular audience. Effortlessly painting with bravura using broad juicy strokes in alla prima technique that came naturally and confidently, yet with the nuances of utmost sensitivity. He painted with alternating “lights with darks” “thick with thin” “finding an edge, losing an edge” for the mystery or contrast.

"Paint all subjects. Paint your first impression, that first glimpse which excites you. Look at the subject and think about it. Does it cheer you, create sadness, give a sense of abandonment, or evoke energy and promise?

Contrast warm and cool next to each other. The less inhibited you are the better.

Still life is best exercise for an artist. If you can paint a still life you can paint anything.

Open yourself, be unique; you will create because Gawt created us all as individuals. Artist needs to say something no one else has said.

Draw every day, look at all masterworks.

Learning to paint is learning to see. More contrast. More contrast. To create you must think: cool, warm, related color, reflected color, dark, light, thick, thin, dissimilar spaces, opposite contrasting movements,---like music, slow, fast,; but all must relate to create symphony both on canvas or in the music hall. Every painting needs active and quiet areas and feeling of poetry and drama. If painting gray day, make it gray. Use gray and silver. If painting sunny day, use oranges, red, yellows, greens—make it happy. Every element of painting must tie together, must have unity, must express mood."                -Sergei Bongart